Reader Review: The Worst Hard Time

Editor’s note: This review was submitted by a library patron during the 2018 Adult Summer Reading program. We will continue to periodically share some of these reviews throughout the year.

The Worst Hard Time book cover

The Worst Hard Time” is an engrossing and compelling description of the causes of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and the seemingly apocalyptic daily existence in the Dust Bowl. It was an incredibly difficult time for the people who lived there, although it was basically caused by farming practices. The reader lives through all of it — wet sheets on windows to keep out the dust that turns to mud; swarms of grasshoppers; mounds of dust at the front door, etc. It was a very hard life, and the book clearly conveys that. It’s an overlooked part of the 20th century.

Three words that describe this book: engrossing; descriptive; demoralizing

You might want to pick this book up if: You want to learn more about a significant but now overlooked part of the 20th century.

-Jeff